"Pattern of Migration"

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/magazine/25Lives.t.html?ex=1332302400&en=e0232c3c7444bf0f&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

My first post on the blog is a reaction to the article "Pattern of Migration" by Trish O'Kane. First, I knew I had to write on this article when I saw such a good name as "O'Kane," which I immediately thought was Irish. I also enjoyed reading her perspective on her life and her constant migration from place to place, without ever really finding a "home." I could identify with a few aspects of her constant travel, having spent time living in Kalamazoo, Flushing, Chicago, and Madrid in the last two years. However, unlike O'Kane, I have a firm sense of where my true home is, having grown up in the same house in Flushing my entire life. I have always considered my parents' house to be my home, even when I was living in a foreign country and even as I am moving out of the house for the final time in two months when I go to work in Chicago.

I felt that one of O'Kane's greatest strengths in her story was her powerful use of imagery. She excelled at describing locations and allowing the reader to picture locations where they had never been. Her descriptions of her parent's home truly brought the building to life. It was easy to close my eyes and picture "the wild peacocks strutting among the roses" and to picture the family sitting on their the porch, listening to "the sound of the coyotes howling in the desert at night." The city of Montgomery was given a great deal of texture with the descriptions of the forests, rivers, and birds, which became her temporary home. When she and her fiancee moved to New Orleans, her

She also used her imagery to bring the characters in her work to life. Her parents became identifable to me with her description of her father tending "the 20,000 young orange trees in his care, as if they were his children." I also felt that she brought the reader close to Miss Mabel, a woman who she did not even know, with her coloring of Miss Mabel's garden.

Though I enjoyed her writing style, I would never wish for O'Kane's life. I do not think that I could ever handle her constant moving, never allowing herself to settle down. On the one hand, it would allow for an exciting life, with brand new locations, people, and adventures simply a new job away. She is able to see a great deal of the world and meet many more people than she would living in a single location her entire working life. And, in some ways, I would enjoy her lifestyle for a part of my life. I am only 22 and would enjoy doing all that I can while I am still young.

However, I also see a great deal of positives in settling down in a single location, advantages that O'Kane may not agree with. When you stay in a single city for a long period of the time, you do not only get to know the location, you become closer to the people and the community. You learn all of the ins and outs of a city. I remember moving to Kalamazoo my freshmen year and thinking that I knew everything about the city in around a month, but the longer I have lived here, the more you are able to learn about it (Not to say that Kalamazoo is New York City by any stretch of the imagination). The job that I have taken in Chicago will force me to get to know everything about my specific area of the city, including the people, the schools, and the businesses. I will essentially need to throw myself into the community and its people to become a presence there, or else I will not be able to succeed in the business side. My work will require that I do exactly what O'Kane has been unable to do; to settle down, to become comfortable in a new location, to finally be able to call another place my second home.